Plate advises the Cyber Security Council on strengthening cybersecurity resilience for SMEs

In the past year, Plate, as a member of an advisory group, shared its knowledge and experience in cybersecurity and contributed to a major Deloitte study on the cyber resilience of SMEs and the reduction of the cyber resilience gap in the Netherlands.

The report, commissioned by the Cyber Security Council, was presented on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. It focuses on strengthening the cyber resilience of SMEs in the Netherlands. Via this link, you can read the full report, or see below for the key findings and recommendations.

Current State and Definition of Cyber Resilience

Cyber resilience is defined as a company's ability to reduce digital risks to an acceptable level through preventive measures and the ability to quickly recover from incidents. There is a significant gap between frontrunners (companies with high cyber resilience) and laggards (companies with low cyber resilience).

Obstacles to Cyber Resilience in SMEs

The report identifies eight key obstacles that SMEs encounter in increasing their level of cyber resilience:

1. Inadequate cyber awareness and knowledge: 84% of the interviewed companies cited this as an obstacle.
2. Insufficient understanding of risks and action perspective: Only 55% conduct a risk analysis.
3. Uncertainty about investments: Companies often do not know how much and where to invest.
4. General shortage of personnel with expertise in ICT and cybersecurity.
5. Limited applicability of current cyber guidelines for SMEs.
6. Dependency risks in the supply chain.
7. Limited accessibility of (government) resources.
8. Changing threat landscape.

Recommendations for Improvement

The report provides nine strategic recommendations, divided into three solution directions:

1. Targeted, uniform, structural approach:
   • Strengthen the role of the Digital Trust Center (DTC) and the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) as coordinating and facilitating bodies.
   • Create a collaborative network with clear responsibilities.
2. Appropriate assistance for the entire SME sector:
   • Enhance cyber awareness and knowledge of SMEs through uniform information provision.
   • Provide accessible tools and metrics to assess cyber resilience levels.
3. Encourage and stimulate action:
   • Encourage investments in cyber measures through subsidies and other financial incentives.
   • Establish clear legal frameworks and guidelines to assist companies in implementing cybersecurity measures.

Plate and Cybersecurity

For the multisite platform of Plate, cybersecurity has been one of our focal points for years. Our platform provides built-in security for all users on multiple fronts, including automatic DDoS protection, SSL certificate, standard multifactor authentication, and hosting with auto-scaling including firewall.

Our efforts to improve security for our customers were recently rewarded with a positive announcement from the Internet Cleanup Foundation, which published a map on Basisbeveiliging.nl about the state of security in primary education in the Netherlands. The entire top 10 of best-performing schools has a website with Plate. Also, read our article 'Security of School Websites at Risk: What Can the Board Do?'.

With dedication and commitment, we continue to work towards a secure digital landscape for SMEs and actively support initiatives that contribute to a resilient Netherlands.